Strengthening Small Coffee Farmers in Flores through Capacity Building

The project will strengthen the ability of 100 small-scale coffee farmers and their cooperative structures to meet the demands of the export market through improved cultivation techniques . This will increase quantity and quality of the farmers’ production, yield greater participation of member farmers in their cooperative structures to promote transparency and governance and introduce value-added organic fertilizer production and post-harvest processing at the farm level. This initiative targets farmers who are organized in 2 villages in Ngada district, Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara Province.

Background

The island of Flores is located in the Lesser Sunda archipelago. For centuries, communities on the island have practiced agriculture that relied on access to the forests covering the island. However, in 2005, the government reserved much of the forest as a public trust, and communities lost the ability to practice their traditional agricultural methods. While there are several districts affected by this event, LWR choose a neglected district, Bajawa, to implement its activities.

LWR and its partner LAPMAS, propose improving local agricultural techniques in order to increase both quality and quantity of coffee produced in this area. In addition, we propose the customary formation of cooperatives to improve the access of farmers to services and markets by assisting the farmers in forming a viable and vibrant cooperatives charged with improving the marketability of locally grown coffee.

Lutheran World Relief Indonesia office has been supporting successful coffee projects in Indonesia since 2012, in partnership with Fair Trade USA and other international and national stakeholders in the coffee industry. With this experience, LWR would like to expand these services around Indonesia to support vulnerable communities in areas where coffee production can be documented to have the potential to improve the lives and livelihoods of local farmers. The project is a pilot project as this will be the first initiative for LWR to work with local partners in Flores.

Goal

Improve the livelihoods of 100 small farmers and their families in Flores, Indonesia through sustainable agriculture efforts.